Monday, April 3, 2017

Paris to Swiss Alps: Arriving in Zürich (4/3/2017)

Monday, April 3, 2017 (continued)
Our motor coaches arrived from Basel in Zürich about 15:30, and since the buses were staggered, we were surprised to see the lobby full of people, with their hand luggage, waiting for rooms. We were the last to arrive, and after more than an hour, we were one of the last to get a room. Of course, our luggage wasn't there. We dropped off our backpacks and decided to head out to see something of Zürich. Fellow tour participants Bill & Elaine were in the bar, and didn't have any plans for the rest of the day, as they were not familiar with transportation or things to see in the city. We invited them to accompany us, as long as they didn't mind where we went and how.
The Renaissance Zürich Tower Hotel was in the former industrial area, and not at all convenient to the old town. Kent asked about tram prices (and was given the wrong info) and we found out we could purchase day passes from the hotel. One receptionist did not have any, and we had to wait for the other desk person to return before purchasing them. We were short on Swiss francs, so it helped that we could charge the day passes to our room.
The tram stop was just a building away, and as directed, we caught the #6 tram. For some reason, the tram numbers did not correspond to those on the map; something to do with work on the #4 tram line, which I thought we could take all the way. We were told to change to the #15 tram for Zürichhorn, but when one arrived at the Centrale stop, the destination was different. I asked the driver and confirmed it was the #10 that we wanted. It was standing room only, but eventually we all had seats and could relax as we traveled along the west side of the Zürichsee/Lake Zürich.
Disembarked to explore Zürichhorn, a park on a delta of the Hornbach stream. In the Summer of 1910, the Wagenfabrik/Auto manufacturer C & R Geissberger provided the first test flights with so-called hydroplanes (flying boats) at Zürichhorn, initiated by Oskar Bider and Fritz Rihner. In July 1919 the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Lufttourismus/Swiss Air Tourism Company was established in Zürich. Tourist flights with flying boats were planned, but never realized as Bider was killed in accident.
We walked towards the lake on Höschgasse.

Nice apartment buildings on Höschgasse

Pavillon Le Corbusier/Le Corbusier Pavilion (1964-1967), the last building
to be designed by Swiss architect Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (known as
Le Corbusier) for art patron Heidi Weber

Heidi Weber opened her Heidi-Weber-Museum, dedicated to Le Corbusier, at this site on land the city had provided rent-free for 50 years. In 2014, the city took possession and renamed the museum Heidi Weber Foundation – Centre Le Corbusier. Frau Weber was not happy with the changes, and took all her Le Corbusier possessions and left in 2016. She is apparently negotiating with Shanghai and Santiago de Chile to open a museum.

The other side of Le Corbusier Pavilion (4/4/2017)

Bellerive Museum, former site of Museum für Gestaltung/
Museum of Design - Applied Arts, which has moved

Bill, Elaine, and Kent pass a wall with a relief
depicting a Bacchanalia procession

There are many statues of nudes around
Lake Zürich; this appears to be a copy of a
seated female nude by Hermann Hubacher (KSS)

Evidence of rock balancing or stone stacking

The "art" of stone stacking has become popular, and perhaps the mathematically-balanced stacks of "gravity art" by Miha Brinovec, from Slovenia, can be considered a contribution to civilization. However, there is controversy concerning this art, as it is essentially selfishly based (meditation) and with millions of people engaged in stacking rocks, it has become the graffiti of the wilderness, the opposite of "Leave no trace." You can also argue that one is disturbing the environment of the insects living under the rock, and/or causing erosion by moving rocks from bare ground.

We didn't bother getting closer to the Chinagarten/Chinese Garden (1993),
a gift from the city’s Chinese partner town of Kunming in thanks
for technical and scientific support provided with expanding drinking
water supplies and urban drainage in Kunming

Unidentified sculpture

Memorial fountain (1910 by Franz Wanger) in
Art Deco style) dedicated to the composer
Alberich Zwyssig and the poet Leonhard Widmer, who
together created the song Trittst im Morgenrot daher/
When the morning sun rises (1941), known as the
Swiss Psalm, which was officially made the
national anthem in 1981

Big clouds over Lake Zürich

Kugelbrunnen/Sphere Fountain, a relic of thePhänomena/Phenomena (a scientific exhibition of 1984),
where a one-ton sphere spins on a thin layer of
constantly flowing water as a model of
pressure lubrication bearings

The Kugelbrunnen in action

Heureka (ancient Greek for Eureka!) (1964,
the first public work by Jean Tinguely)

It is said that Tinguely’s "useless machines" are seen across the world as an allegory of the consumer and industrial society, which exhausts itself with hectic activity and ends up in absurdity. He is known for using new techniques and materials to integrate the reality of everyday life into art.

Hornbach, a canalized stream
coming down a series of "steps"

Waterslide at the Strandbad/Beach Tiefenbrunnen (KSS)

View back across the "beach" to the changing rooms

Kreisel/rotary, a circular platform in lake for fishing, meditating...

and swimming in the middle?

A rocky ledge, then a diving board?

In the foreground, modern art or a shower for the beach?

More classical art, as the sun sets (KSS)

Spring has already arrived in Zürich,
which is 6 degrees north in latitude from Cleveland,
where Spring has not arrived!

We caught the #10 tram back to the Centrale station, then walked down the pedestrianized Niederdorfstrasse to find a place for dinner.

A beer hall!

We ate outside at the Rheinfelder Bierhalle (1870), where Bill & Elaine ordered the dark beer and Kent the light one. Elaine had the Älpler-Rösti/Alpine "hash browns" with ham, onion, and Alpine cheese, while Bill had the Spaghetti Bolognese. I had Rösti mit zwei Spiegeleiern/"Hash browns" with two eggs sunny-side up, and Kent had Kalbsbratwurst an Zwiebelsauce mit Rösti/Veal sausage with onion sauce, and "hash browns." The Rheinfelder menu in English used the term hash browns, although I have always considered it a potato pancake, albeit a huge one.
Back to catch tram #6 and return to the hotel for the night.

No comments:

About Me

Once upon a time a family of three (or of many more if you count the blended family) tried blogging to get their numerous photos out there for people to see...
We love to travel, to see nature (geography, flora and fauna), and to learn about history and culture and how they are manifested in architecture. We love to try new foods and sometimes new activities.